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Posts Tagged ‘Louisiana’

Huey Long_ The Dictator of Louisiana

Source:Emperor Tigerstar– If the title fits, you can’t acquit. LOL

Source:The New Democrat 

“See the rise and fall of the Kingfish Governor of Louisiana. He’s more than a Kaiserreich meme, and has left quite a lasting legacy.”

Source:Emperor Tigerstar

I mentioned in my Huey Long piece last week that Huey Long had a lot in common with Senator Bernie Sanders today as it created to wealth redistribution and a socialist populism that was about high taxation on the wealthy to be used to help everyone else. And all of that is true, but as I also mentioned last week Huey and Bernie aren’t ideological twins.

Senator Sanders at least as far as how he speaks, what he proposes, and his political positions all suggest that he’s a Democratic Socialist. Governor Long, you could call him a Democratic Socialist on economic policy, but even as the guy in this video admits to Governor Long was essentially the dictator of Louisiana as far as how he was able to centralize a lot of state power for himself, but then the guy in this video says that Governor Long used all of this state power to benefit the people of Louisiana, not himself necessarily.

I’m going to argue that Huey Long wasn’t a Communist even though he did have dictatorial socialist leanings as Governor. But only because he didn’t close down private media organizations and churches, banks, that sort of thing where people can get to together and create their own private power. But he did centralize a lot of power within his own state to the point that if you tried to cross him, he could hurt your badly politically and professionally. And to work for his Administration in Louisiana, you have to donate part of your state salary to his political machine in Louisiana. At one point Huey, was both Governor of Louisiana and then U.S. Senator from Louisiana. Even when he was in Congress, he still had a lot of power in Louisiana.

A better way to describe Huey Long is say that he was a crook, but with good intentions and as long as you didn’t try to cross him, life could be very good for you in Louisiana. And again Huey wasn’t a Communist, but he did have things in common with Communists and Socialist dictators around the world. People who come into power promising the populist that he alone can make their lives better if they just give him all of this power. ( Remind you of any current President today? )

We saw this with Fidel Castro in Cuba, Hugo Chavez and now Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. Men who have way too much self-confidence and probably couldn’t look up or define words like modesty and humility even if they saw them in a dictionary. Which is dangerous for any society to have which are leaders who have so much faith in themselves, because they see themselves as invincible and that it’s somehow treason for anyone to even try to question them. And when someone does that, they face cruel repercussions. That’s the type of leader or Socialist that I see Huey Long as.

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Huey Long Collection | Share Our Wealth Societies | 2_23_1934

Source:Senator Huey Long– Governor Huey Long, D, Louisiana: the Bernie Sanders of his era?

Source:The New Democrat 

“Huey Long speaking with John A Simpson, President of the National Farmer’s Union, in 1934.
FORMER LOUISIANA GOVERNOR HUEY LONG, CALLED “THE KINGFISH”, SPEAKING WITH JOHN A. SIMPSON, PRESIDENT NATIONAL FARMER’S UNION, ON SHARE THE WEALTH MOVEMENT”

Source:Senator Huey Long

Governor Huey Long’s Share The Wealth Proposal

Source:Wikipedia

1. “No person would be allowed to accumulate a personal net worth of more than 300 times the average family fortune, which would limit personal assets to between $5 million and $8 million. A graduated capital levy tax would be assessed on all persons with a net worth exceeding $1 million.[citation needed]

2. Annual incomes would be limited to $1 million and inheritances would be capped at $5.1 million.[citation needed]

3. Every family was to be furnished with a homestead allowance of not less than one-third the average family wealth of the country. Every family was to be guaranteed an annual family income of at least $2,000 to $2,500, or not less than one-third of the average annual family income in the United States. Yearly income, however, cannot exceed more than 300 times the size of the average family income.[citation needed]

4. An old-age pension would be made available for all persons over 60.[citation needed]
To balance agricultural production, the government would preserve/store surplus goods, abolishing the practice of destroying surplus food and other necessities due to lack of purchasing power.[citation needed]

5. Veterans would be paid what they were owed (a pension and healthcare benefits).[citation needed]
Free education and training for all students to have equal opportunities in all schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions for training in the professions and vocations of life.[citation needed]

6. The raising of revenue and taxes for the support of this program was to come from the reduction of swollen fortunes from the top, as well as for the support of public works to give employment whenever there may be any slackening necessary in private enterprise.”

I’m not saying that Huey Long both as Governor Long and then later Senator Long was the George McGovern, or take it up today and call him the Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren of his era, but only because Huey Long wasn’t so much a Democratic Socialist as he was just just purely a Socialist: someone who mixed both democratic and authoritarian views into his own politics. He was more like a Nicholas Maduro ( the President of Venezuela ) than Neville Chamberlain ( Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 1930s ) as someone who believed in democratic socialism economically, but had authoritarian views when it came to how he governed.

Governor Huey Long, was as close to a dictator that we’ve ever had in this country when he was Governor of Louisiana and had so much power over the government there and didn’t believe in checks and balances and separation of powers. But on economic policy he was someone who had strong populist tendencies and someone who wasn’t a big city leftist or populist, but someone who could appeal to rural voters in the deep South, because of how poor they were and that he spoke about their poverty and promised to get them out of it with his economic populism that we would call democratic socialism today. Which is what he has in common with Senator Bernie Sanders today.

What Governor Long has in common with Senator Sanders is what again what was called economic populism in the 1930s that we call democratic socialism today: Bernie, doesn’t call his economic agenda Share The Wealth, but that’s probably more for political reasons than ideological. He’s already a self-described Democratic Socialist and one of just a few in Congress today and doesn’t want to be confused with Socialists who are even to the Left of him. But ideologically Bernie’s vision of democratic socialism is very similar to Huey’s when it comes to money and wealth. They would both essentially outlaw wealth in this country and use that money for their social welfare agenda.

Huey Long in the 1930s, was talking about old age pensions and what we call today a national basic income where every American would be given a financial allowance in this country to make sure that they don’t have to live in poverty. Bernie Sanders, believes that every single American has a right to go to college and get health insurance and health care provide to them from the government. And that the wealthy should be forced to pay for all of these services for everyone else. What Huey and Bernie have in common politically, is that they’re both anti-wealth and economic independence. And see it as the role of the U.S. Government to guarantee every single America and basically national income and quality living in this country.

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Source: Vanity Fair– Male friends of Miranda Grosvenor?

Source:The New Democrat

“Paul Schrader took the first phone call at his hotel in New Orleans. It was 1981, and Schrader, who wrote the screenplay for Taxi Driver and went on to direct American Gigolo and other films, was in Louisiana to shoot Cat People, with Nastassja Kin-ski. The woman on the line introduced herself as Miranda Grosvenor, and before Schrader could get rid of her, she had somehow managed to keep him talking for 20 minutes, gossiping about Hollywood and a number of famous men she seemed to know all about.”

From Vanity Fair

“Natalie Wood Investigation Vanity Fair.”

From Carrie Hefferman

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Source:Carrie Hefferman– Chris Walken and Natalie Wood, in 1981.

“Whitney Walton was hardly a household name when she died quietly recently while working at her job as a social worker in Baton Rouge, and she wanted it that way.

In the 1970s and ’80s under a different guise, though, she counted dozens of big-name Hollywood stars and standout entertainment figures as her phone pals.”

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Source: The Advocate– Miranda Grosvenor?

From The Advocate

The only people who know who Miranda Grosvenor actually is, would be whoever Miranda is in real-life, the people who know her and perhaps Bryan Burrough himself, assuming she’s been honest and forthcoming with her. To the rest of the world she’s just Miranda Grosvenor and had I not been watching YouTube on my TV ( which you can do if you have Verizon FIOS ) looking at videos there doing research for future blog posts, I would have have no idea who she is either, because I would’ve never had heard of her.

She’s not a woman that even men who’ve had let’s say phone relationships with her ( for lack of a better term ) how else do you describe people who only communicate through phone calls who never actually physically meet her, know who she really is and have I guess until Bryan Burrough did this story for Vanity Fair and Vanity Fair in conjunction did this documentary about the last days of actress Natalie Wood with a segment about this Miranda Grosvenor woman, no one else would know who she possibly is either, because she hasn’t made it public who she is and the men she spoke to famous entertainment and in some cases political celebrities like Senator Ted Kennedy, haven’t made there conversations public either. And have said they’ve spoken to this woman either.

I believe it was actor/comedian Buck Henry who said that probably every man wants to talk to a Miranda Grosvenor at some point. Someone who sounds sweet, sexy, intelligent, and interesting, with literally no strings attached. Married men could communicate this way with her because they’re literally not cheating by doing this. All these guys were doing was sharing their personal thoughts and being entertained by a woman whose name they don’t even know and have never even seen before even through photographs, let alone actually met. Where they’re literally just free to be themselves and have nothing to lose, because they’re probably never going to make these conversations public and Miranda or whoever she really is, doesn’t want the conversations to be made public either.

I have some experience with online dating so I have some idea what these guys were going through talking to woman online and even over the phone, knowing they may never actually physically meet who they’re talking to. I did have one advantage though which was I got to at least see photos of the women that I talked to. But I can see why guys would be intrigued by this especially if they’re not married and currently single and perhaps looking for something different when it comes to romance and dating, perhaps coming off of a bad divorce or breakup. And perhaps thinking they might actually meet the woman they’re talking to in person. Which is what at least one guy that she talked to wanted to do.

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All The Kings Men

Source:SPPN– Louisiana Governor Huey Long. 

“See priceless and rare footage of the actual Kingfish in action and see the real story right here! This newsreel culminates footage from Paramount and Pathe News, which we are the copyright holders of.”

From SPPN

I think the best way to describe Huey Long ( aka Louisiana Kingfish ) would be compared him with the recently deceased President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez. Even though Huey was a lot more Democratic than Hugo and believed in a greater deal of freedom. But they were both basically dictators who were corrupt who meant well and wanted to do good things. But weren’t really cutout to be chief executives and people with strong Socialist leanings.

Both Huey and Hugo spoke about share the wealth and Social Justice, but wanted as much power as possible even centralized all the power with them to do these good works for the people. Huey Long was clearly a Democrat as far as party and politically and believed in democracy except when it went against him. And Hugo Chavez was a Socialist, but certainly not a Democratic Socialist.

Hugo was not a full-blooded Communist like Fidel Castro, but probably more like Neo-Communist. Someone who allowed for political opposition and a certain level of economic and personal freedom, but someone with strong dictatorial leanings as well. Huey was probably more Democratic than Hugo, but politically they were similar.

You cam also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

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Huey Long_ Share the Wealth

Source:AJ Fowler– Huey Long, talking about his Share The Wealth agenda, in 1934. 

“December 1934. Huey Long speaks passionately about income inequality and the wealthy in the United States.”

From AJ Fowler

The socialist side of Huey Long coming out that basically no one is entitled to a certain amount of money in society. Other than to meet their basic needs, even if they create all of that money for themselves. Not sure if Huey was supporting lets say an excise tax on wealthy individuals to give to the people who do not have enough money or not.

With this excise tax going to government and then government decides how much money individuals need which is part of the socialist philosophy of there shouldn’t be any rich, middle or poor people and that it’s the job of the central government to prevent that from happening. That the central government should collect the nation’s resources and then give them back based on what they believe people need to live well.

And the central government does this by basically collecting most of the resources in society and then giving that money back to people based on what it believes that people need to live well. I’ll look it up in the future to see if that’s what Senator Huey Long believed in. But from this video he did seem to believe that it was it was unfair for a few people to be so rich while others are struggling. And that government should play a bigger role to see that no one is poor and perhaps no one is rich.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

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Huey Long Seen as Threat to FDR in 1930s

Source:Daniel J.B. Mitchell– The U.S. Congress, where Huey Long once served as Senator from Louisiana.

“Senator Huey Long of Louisiana led a populist “Share the Wealth” movement during the Great Depression. Long planned to run for president on a third-party ticket in 1936. He thought he could throw the election to the Republicans who – he expected – would make a hash of things. Then, in 1940, he expected to make it to the White House. The grand plan came to an abrupt end when Long was assassinated in 1935. He left a legacy, however. His son, Russell Long, became a senator and – in an echo of Share the Wealth – promoted Employee Stock Option Plans (ESOPs) through various tax breaks.”

From Daniel J.B. Mitchell

Franklin Roosevelt and Huey Long were very similar leftist Democrats in that they were both economic Progressives who believed in things like infrastructure investment funded by the public and making American capitalism work for more people. But there were several differences in the two and they mostly resulted around character.

Franklin had a lot of it and wasn’t a corrupt man or a corrupt politician looking to become some dictator over the United States. Huey was exactly that, but a dictator over Louisiana first as Governor where he basically ran the whole state under his leadership and when he left the Louisiana governors mansion to serve in Congress as a Senator, he was still running Louisiana.

But now Huey Long as a U.S. Senator had more national power and since these two men were similar ideologically at least on economic-policy, President Roosevelt saw Senator Long as a threat to his leadership and power and someone who needed to be put down. But Huey Long would’ve gone down anyway because of his lifestyle and how he carried himself in office.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

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Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley– Judge Leander Perez: Louisiana.

Source:The New Democrat 

“Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Wallace Movement. Episode 095, Recorded on April 15, 1968: Guest: Leander Perez.”

From Firing Line With William F. Buckley 

“Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Wallace Crusade. Episode 088, Recorded on January 24, 1968 Guest: George C. (George Corley) Wallace.”

IMG-4306

Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley– Interviewing Governor C. Wallace in 1968.

From Firing Line With William F. Buckley 

“Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Wallace Crusade. Episode 088, Recorded on January 24, 1968 Guest: George C. (George Corley) Wallace For more information about this program, see…

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Source:Firing Line With William F. Buckley– Governor George C. Wallace: D. Alabama.

From Rick Donald

Bill Buckley was a true Conservative and he would’ve taken the more progressive or liberal stance against Wallace when it came to civil rights and segregation. Or least that it how it would seem. I even as a Liberal believe you can be a Conservative and still believe in commonsense American values like liberty, equality, equal rights and civil liberties. But that is me.

I never heard of Leander Perez from Louisiana before I saw this video. But apparently he was both Governor of Louisiana and a judge in Louisiana and this interview was done in 1968. And they were talking segregation and the civil rights laws. And the Governor telling Bill Buckley that he’s not a racist even though he says Negros (which is what African-Americans back then were called) are morally inferior to Caucasian-Americans. And Perez saying that he’s being honest and that is the truth, “why hide it”? With Buckley replying “so you are an honest bigot”.

Governor George C. Wallace was a Dixiecrat, a right-wing (at least on social cultural issues) Nationalist who was basically still fighting the Civil War and wanting to lead Confederates in that war. Not ready to perhaps even see African-Americans as people, let alone as Americans deserving of the same rights and protections, as well as responsibilities as European-Americans. Bill Buckley was a Conservative. And one of the conservative values is treating individuals as exactly that. And not treating people as members of groups. Worst or better simply because of their race.

The so-called Wallace Movement of the South of the 1960s and 1970s, was different. And more of a racially based nationalistic movement of Southern Caucasians, predominantly Protestant and perhaps even Anglo-Saxon. Who felt having African-Americans in their community was some type of an invasion. When the fact was and still is that Africans are just as American as Europeans and as such deserving of the same rights as European-Americans and every other race in America. The Wallace Movement simply saw African-Americans as inferior. And not deserving of the same rights and protections.

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LCV Cities Tour - Baton Rouge_ Gov_ Huey Long

Source:CSPAN– U.S. Senator Huey Long (Democrat, Louisiana)

“We visit the state Capitol built by Governor Huey Long with Former Louisiana Speaker of the House, Hunt Downer. He shows us where the Governor was gunned down, explains what may have happened that day, and tells us why the Governor was such a controversial politician.”

From CSPAN

I’m not an expert on Huey Long, but I know he was a Democratic populist, with progressive leanings on economic policy, but who had authoritarian, if not fascist leanings when it came to government and governing.

So some might say Huey was a Communist. I wouldn’t go that far, but he was someone who believed that he shouldn’t have to answer to anyone in government. And as Hunt Downer said in this video, even Huey was a U.S. Senator, he acted as if he was still Governor of Louisiana.

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Huey Long-Broderick Crawford

Source:Dread Not– Broderick Crawford, as Willie Stark, in All The Kings Men.

“From American Rhetoric. Hosted here because .wmv streaming sucks for me and its not on here so…

From Dread Not

One of the best speeches ever from a political movie, because it was so real. Because it sounded not so political with a man talking to the people where he came from and how he grew up. And his whole background rather than trying to convince people of how great the country and state is and how patriotic he was and everything.

What Willie Stark was doing instead was telling the people the plain truth and telling them that things aren’t that great right now. Too many people in poverty without enough food, the roads aren’t good enough for farmers and other business people to be able to get their products to market and so-forth. That they also need better hospitals and better schools. That they need a better educated workforce and community and that Stark knows these things because he comes from the same community and is one of these people himself.

But what he was also saying is that we can do better than this and that we can and must do much better than this. And that he has a plan to do it. Which is why you should vote for him. He balanced realism with a positive vision for the future.

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“Former Governor Buddy Roemer (R-LA) spoke about his interest in a presidential campaign and his political career. Among the topics he addressed were U.S. economic and fiscal policy, his decision to switch parties in 1991, and his record as governor.”

From CSPAN

“The Federal Election Commission has qualified its first 2012 presidential candidate for receiving matching federal funds: Buddy Roemer.

Roemer is a long shot for the GOP nomination. He has not participated in any of the Republican debates so far and has said he would consider a third-party bid through the Americans Elect campaign.”

“The Federal Election Commission has qualified its first 2012 presidential candidate for receiving matching federal funds: Buddy Roemer.

Roemer is a long shot for the GOP nomination. He has not participated in any of the Republican debates so far and has said he would consider a third-party bid through the Americans Elect campaign.”

There a few reasons why Buddy Roemer doesn’t fit in with the Democratic and Republican parties even though he’s a lifetime Democrat and Republican. And thats just it: he’s a lifetime Democrat and Republican, he really doesn’t fit in either party.

Buddy Roemer is that he’s anti-establishment, what’s good for the country, not the party he believes that the best politics are the best policies and government. Governor Roemer has this Harry Truman streak in him, which scares the hell out of the Democratic and Republican establishments.

The Republican Party (Governor Roemer’s current home) isn’t going to give him the resources to finance his campaign in the way, where the Roemer Campaign can raise the resources to get their message out and raise their awareness enough that they can climb in the polls and be factors in key Republican states and win enough Republican delegates so he can be a serious threat to win the Republican nomination.

I’ve been arguing for months that Buddy Roemer should be running as an Independent for President. A Conservative Independent in the mole of Ron Reagan, that will go to Washington to clean it up. And who’s someone the No Labels movement could support, as well as other Independent groups that should be promoting people like Buddy Roemer, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Senator Joe Lieberman, Senator Ben Nelson, Senator Scott Brown, and others.

Time for the  Reform Party to be a real Independence Party thats made up of Conservative, Liberal and moderate pragmatists that put country over party and are mainly interested in doing what’s right, not what’s easy. Buddy Roemer could be that presidential candidate that could help start and Independence movement and put it on the map in American politics.

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